Troubleshooting Creative Audits & Campaign Delivery Issues

If your campaign isn't delivering impressions or hasn't started serving ads, the most common cause is that your creatives are undergoing an automated audit process. This guide explains how creative auditing works on ad:personam, typical review durations, and steps to resolve delivery issues.

How Creative Auditing Works

When you publish a creative to a live line item, an automated audit process is triggered by the programmatic supply-side partners (publishers and sellers) who will serve your ads. This audit ensures that:

• The creative meets technical specifications (correct dimensions, file formats, and tag structure)
• Content complies with advertising standards and publisher policies
• Landing pages are functional and match the creative's offer
• No malicious code, auto-refresh behavior, or unauthorized downloads are present

Important: The audit process happens automatically and is managed by the supply-side ecosystem—not by ad:personam directly. This means you won't see audit status indicators or approval workflows in the ad:personam interface.

Typical Audit Durations

Most creatives are reviewed and approved for serving within 24–48 hours after being published to a live line item. However, several factors can extend this timeline:

Creatives in Sensitive Categories (such as financial services, healthcare, alcohol, gambling, political advertising, or dating) typically undergo more rigorous review and may take longer to approve.

Why Your Campaign May Not Be Delivering

If your campaign has been live for more than 48 hours but shows zero impressions, consider these common causes:

1. Creative Is Still Under Review

Most common reason: If you published your creative recently, it may still be undergoing audit. Standard review takes 24–48 hours; sensitive categories may take longer.

What to do: Wait 48–72 hours from the time you published the creative. If the campaign still isn't delivering after this period, contact support.

2. Creative Failed Audit Checks

Creatives that fail automated audits will not serve impressions. Common rejection reasons include:

• Technical Issues:

  • Incorrect tag dimensions (creative size doesn't match declared dimensions)
  • Improperly formatted VAST tags (for video ads)
  • Broken landing page URLs or redirects

• Content Policy Violations:

  • Insufficient or misleading branding (logo or brand name missing or unclear)
  • Mismatch between creative offer and landing page content
  • Prohibited content (e.g., misleading claims, inappropriate imagery)
  • Improper brand rotation (multiple unrelated brands in one creative)

• User Experience Issues:

  • Auto-refreshing ads or pages
  • Creatives prompting unsolicited downloads or external application launches
  • Non-functional click-through behavior

What to do: Review the checklist in the Avoiding Creative Rejections section below. If you believe your creative complies with all standards, contact ad:personam support for assistance.

3. Line Item or Campaign Configuration Issues

Even if your creative passes the audit, delivery issues can stem from line item configuration:

• Budget Exhausted: Daily or total budget already spent
• Date Range: Campaign start date is in the future, or end date has passed
• Targeting Too Narrow: Audience, geo, or inventory targeting limits available impressions
• Bid Price Too Low: CPM bid may not be competitive for your target inventory

What to do: Review your line item settings (budget, dates, targeting, and pricing) to ensure they support active delivery.

Avoiding Creative Rejections

To maximize the chances of a fast, successful audit, follow these best practices when creating and uploading ads:

Technical Quality

• Match Declared Dimensions: Ensure your creative's actual size matches the dimensions you declare when uploading (e.g., a 300×250 banner must be exactly 300×250).
• Test Landing Pages: Verify that click-through URLs work correctly and resolve to the intended destination.
• Use HTTPS: All landing pages and third-party tracking URLs must use secure HTTPS protocol.

Content & Branding

• Clear Branding: Include a visible logo and brand name on the creative. Ensure branding is consistent between the ad and the landing page.
• Accurate Messaging: The offer or message in your creative must match the content on the landing page—no bait-and-switch.
• Single Brand Focus: Avoid rotating multiple unrelated brands within a single creative.

User Experience

• No Auto-Refresh: Creatives must not automatically reload or cause the page to refresh.
• No Unsolicited Downloads: Ads and landing pages must not trigger downloads or external app launches without explicit user action.
• Functional Interaction: Click-through behavior must be intuitive and lead directly to your landing page.

Next Steps

• Publishing Creatives to Line Items — Learn how to link creatives to active campaigns.
• Adding Third-Party Tracking Tags — Configure impression pixels and external scripts correctly to avoid audit issues.
• AdChoices Compliance — Ensure your creatives meet privacy transparency standards.